


Law & (the lack of) Order

by carmelfringe



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Law School, M/M, Pining Harry, Pining Louis, Strangers to Lovers, University Student Harry, University Student Louis, University Student Niall, also Med School, well not really strangers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 21:51:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9291107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmelfringe/pseuds/carmelfringe
Summary: Harry approached the window and looked at the neighbour department. Law.He sighed and stared at it longingly. Elise came up to him and their eyes met in the reflection on the window. Lights in the law department were off, at least in the part of the building they were able to see. Did future lawyers not have evening classes today? Probably."Can you believe he was absent today? He's never absent.” Harry said to Elise without diverting his eyes from the building."Can you believe you still haven't talked to him? You've never uttered a single word!" she said in an incredulous tone, mocking his friend.or: Uni AUHarry studies medicine, Louis studies law.Their departments are opposite one another.Secret crushes and dramatic staring out of the window happen.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
> I came up with this idea on my way to school, turns out I'm weirdly creative around 7:30am.  
> Hope you'll enjoy reading this one shot as much as I enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> Just like I said in my previous work: English is not my first language so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes! x

November 10th

University of London, Department of Medicine

8:30pm

 

"SHOT OUT TO MY EX, YOU'RE REALLY QUITE THE MAN!" she swiped the dirty table once and continued singing, "YOU MADE MY HEART BREAK AND THAT MADE ME WHO I A-A-M!". Doing a little spin, the blonde faced Harry.

"Shush, Elise! It's late, we're supposed to be cleaning the tables, not scream-

"Singing." 

"- _singing_ at the top of our lungs." he kindly scolded his friend who didn't seem too bothered by it. Elise smiled warmly and nudged his shoulder. 

"Hey, I know you haven't seen _him_ today but that doesn't mean you can be pain in the ass. I know we're supposed to clean the tables but at least let's have a little fun with it! C'mon, cheer up, babe!" 

"Are you on something? How can you be this energetic after six hours of lectures?!" 

"I'm just happy. It's Friday, we're done with exams-" 

"And we're spending our Friday night cleaning tables at our university. Fun-fucking-tastic" the boy said with a scorn and picked up the remains of bones they'd used in anatomy classes. He put them on a small pile with other ones.  

"Okay, so like- I know being late to classes was my fault as well as the punishment for it but still- it could've been worse."

"Really? What is worse than cleaning fifty year old bones and dirty tables full of chewed rock-hard gums on a free Friday night?" 

"I get your point. Next Friday drinks are on me, deal?" Elise held her hand out and put the other one on her hip. 

"Deal." Harry wiped his hands on his jeans and shook his best friend's hand. 

"Brilliant. Now stop being so miserable and sing with me." 

"HERE’S TO MY EX, HEY LOOK AT ME NOW!" they both sung, getting lost in it and looking as if they were stars of some cheap musical you’d usually see while going on school trips. 

Harry approached the window and looked at the neighbour department. Law.

He sighed and stared at it longingly. Elise came up to him and their eyes met in the reflection on the window. Lights in the law department were off, at least in the part of the building they were able to see. Did future lawyers not have evening classes today? Probably.  

"Can you believe he was absent today? He's _never_ absent.” Harry said to Elise without diverting his eyes from the building.

"Can you believe you still haven't talked to him? You've _never_ uttered a single word!" she said in an incredulous tone, mocking his friend. 

"Hey, I'm just a shy person." Harry said in his defence and hugged his arms to himself. Elise simply laughed. 

"If you told me that after our night out at a bar I would've laughed 'till I started coughing and then cough my lungs out and continue laughing without my lungs. And then drop dead." 

"You can't laugh without- you know, never mind. The point of my moping is that he is absent and I haven't seen his beautiful face today. And you know it's the highlight of my day.” The pout in Harry's face looked funnier than it should have. He was just _so frustrated and tired, why couldn’t Elise understand it? God._  

"What was his name again?"

"I thought you'd have remembered it by now. Louis. His name is Louis. His face is in the uni's newspaper every two weeks because you know, he's- 

"At the top of his classes. Super talented, young lawyer. Annalise Keating wannabe. Actually no, Annalise Keating who? I only know Louis Tomlinson."

Harry laughed his iconic laugh. The one so loud people next door could probably hear it. Leave it to Elise to make him go from pouting to laughing in a matter of seconds. They returned to the tables, only two dirty ones left. Each grabbed a sponge and began cleaning. Suddenly, Elise's eyes widened and she quickly nudged Harry's shoulder. 

"Harry. Look out of the window. The light in one room is on."

Harry's head turned left so quick he almost had a whiplash. The light was on, indeed. 

Not looking away from the window, he whispered to Elise "You think someone's in the room?”

"No, the light turned on on its own. Of coursed someone's in the room, dummy. I wonder who, though." 

Was Harry ashamed that all his mind was saying was a litany of _LouisLouisLouisLouisLouis?_

Maybe he should be but he really wasn’t. At this point he just embraced his weird obsession with a boy he’s never spoken a word to. There was just something about Louis that pulled Harry in like a magnet. Harry often saw him at the patio— he was surrounded by a group of people who looked at him intently while he was speaking and then everyone laughed at what Louis had said. He was like the Sun— everything revolved around him. People loved being in his presence, he had this special vibe that attracted everyone. Teachers loved him, he had tons of friends. Louis basically owned the law department. Other students aspired to be like him. At such a young age he assisted in more court cases than Harry could count. Even though Harry didn’t know shit about law he also idolised Louis.

Suddenly he saw a silhouette of someone in the room opposite the one he and Elise were in.

"Elise. Elise! Look. Do you think it’s-" Harry sounded so excited and hopeful he resembled a puppy on the first day of snow. 

"It’s him. Only Louis would spend a Friday night digging through some cases instead of partying or just chilling in his dorm."

***

Louis sat at a desk and opened a few books. He spread some sheets of paper taken from the newspapers or ones with his notes written down on them and soon the desk was drowning in papers. Why did he choose to spend his free time like this you may ask? He just preferred working at night, it helped him focus. He also liked the atmosphere of the university late at night— everything was calm and silent.  

"This is gonna be a long night." The boy muttered to himself and picked up the first newspaper page he brought.  

Harry simply stared at him in wonder, completely forgetting about the dirty tables he was supposed to clean.

 

 

November 13th

University of London, Department of Law

9:00am

 

"No, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to focus on Cornell when it’s clearly not him who murdered Caitlyn. Waste of time." 

With that, Louis sat back in his chair and other students stared at him in wonder. It was typical for him to just butt in into what the teacher was saying, as if he wasn’t intimidated by the woman at all. Unlike his peers who were sometimes shaking in their seats when asked a question by Ms Holtz. 

"And what makes you so sure of it?" she looked at Louis with curiosity.  

"He was out of town the night Caitlyn was killed. At 6:30, the time of her death, he was eating his tenth hot dog in The Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. He won, by the way. Here’s the picture, I found it in the local newspaper online and printed it out." He passed the paper to her. She scanned it quickly and turned to Louis with a proud smile.  

"Well, mister Tomlinson, looks like you’ve just earned yourself another opportunity to help me during the trial." — she turned to face the group— "Everybody! Two places left,  prove yourself worthy of my time and do your best in order to be chosen. Be quick, we have no time to waste!" 

After the classes were over, Louis quickly took his bag and headed to the university’s cafeteria for  lunch. Making his way through masses of people in the hallways he managed to grab the latest issue of the university’s newspaper from the small stand near the exit door. As soon as he sat at the first available table, he opened the newspaper. 

 

_Another success of  Louis Tomlinson!_

 

Louis sighed and proceeded to read the article.

 

W _hat would we do without our young aspiring lawyer? Louis Tomlinson, under the tutelage of th_ _e well—respected lawyer as well as our beloved professor Ingrid Holtz, managed to win another case this Wednesday. The whole country was immersed in the case of a teenager accused of murder of his mother. Tomlinson proved his innocence within an hour. We can’t wait to hear about the next success of our golden boy!_

He should feel flattered and happy. This case was a big success and a milestone in his career as a future lawyer. But the thing is, Louis didn’t particularly enjoy the attention. Yes, he was proud of himself but he didn’t feel the need to read about his achievements in the newspaper in order to feel pride. He was fed up with it and he was sure other students were, too. He turned to the next page and found something that caught his attention.  

_HIV vaccine research at out university_

 

"Now, this is something worth publishing.” he muttered.

 

_At the beginning or this weak our university got funds to pursue the HIV vaccine research. HIV is a virus that has killed 36 million people so far. Another 36 is currently infected. After over 30 years of various researches we still do not have the vaccine. The most promising medicine students of our university, with Harry Styles on the lead, are going to dig into the case and, hopefully, come up with some brilliant ideas.We wish them the best of luck!_

"This boy is going to become the next Mother Theresa, I swear to God."

"Who?" said a voice from behind. 

"Harry Styles, Niall. You know, the one-" 

"With a dazzling smile, crater—like dimples and lustrous locks you desperately want to grab? Yeah, I think I know the guy." Niall finished for Louis with a shit eating grin painted on his face. "You should totally talk to him, mate. You’re getting kind of pathetic over here. So much for a-" he made quotation marks with his fingers "-young and fearless lawyer." 

"Hey, give me a break! I’ll try, okay? Today is just not the right time." Louis said defensively, hugging the newspaper to his chest.  

"You said that yesterday. And the day before. Actually, you say that everyday." Niall patted his back with what seemed a bit like pity. Or maybe it was just a friendly gesture and Louis read too much into it. "You know I don’t wanna be mean or anything. I just want what’s the best for you. As endearing as watching you get frustrated over him is, I really want it to end. Go get your man." 

"Thanks for the pep talk, Niall. How lost would I be without you!" Louis dramatically sighed and flung himself at his friend. "Anyway, back to the original topic of this conversation-"

"This wasn't the original topic?" Niall seemed a bit…surprised? No, this is not the right word. But he looked kind of incredulous. Sue him for having a short attention span.  

"No, this was you reminding me yet again what a coward I am. Now, let’s talk about why I called Harry the next Mother Theresa."

"Go on then, let me hear about him some more. It’s not like it’s what I do literally every hour of every day. But yeah, sure, go ahead." He waved his hand in dismissal and sat comfortably opposite Louis. 

"I know you’re being sarcastic right now but you know I’m still gonna tell you, right?"

"Not even that surprised. Go on, mate. I’m all ears."

 

While Louis bored Niall again with his stories about Harry, the said boy found himself walking into the same room the boys were in. Harry bought a "Fresh and fruity" (at least there was an attempt, there were 5 pineapple and 3 apple slices) salad and orange juice. Today he had lots of energy and he wasn't even sure why. Just a good day, he guessed. Harry grabbed from a table nearby the school newspaper and his eyes automatically drifted to the name _Louis Tomlinson_ written in italics at the top of page one. God, he was so proud of Louis and the boy wasn’t probably even aware of his existence. How sad. When he moved on to the next page, his forest green eyes bulged out almost comically. There was a photo of him in his white apron, standing by a chemical stand with a probe in one hand. He looked like a proper scientist.  

"Was just probably checking to see if there’s any gas around the probe." He thought but the boy had to admit—the photo was quite flattering. He looked good. And then it hit him. 

_Louis is in this issue. Louis probably read this issue, meaning— Louis most probably read about him and saw him in this extremely good photo._

"Okay, chill. Don’t act like a teenager, you’re a grown adult now. Just be cool."

But then he heard this pretty, enchanting laugh that could make him swim the Pacific Ocean and run across the hottest deserts barefoot. _He_ was there. Harry looked to his right and then his eyes locked with cerulean blue ones. He held Louis’ gaze for longer that would be considered normal but something in him didn’t let him divert his eyes from the other boy. He was magnetic. However, Harry felt a blush rise to his cheeks so he shyly smiled and looked down.  

_Why why why?! You have the perfect occasion, Louis is served on a fucking silver plate right in front of you and yet you can’t go up to him and start a simple conversation. Why do you hate yourself so much?!_

Louis, on the other hand, was so happy he couldn’t focus on anything else. Like eating, for example. He dropped his fork and then bumped his hear under the table while trying to pick it up, which brought him back to reality. When he came back from under the table, he was met with a very unpleased-looking Niall. 

"Louis, you total dumbass! Why didn’t you go up to him?! Your legs are perfectly fine so why didn't you use them?!”

"I don’t know! I was just frozen in place. I wanted to go up to him but it was like I couldn’t move!"

"At least you got some kind of interaction between you two. That counts as something, I guess."

"Exactly, so please don’t ruin it for me and let’s be happy together. Now, pass me the soda. I suddenly got thirsty."

 

 

November 16th

University of London, Harry’s dorm

9:00pm

 

Louis and Harry didn’t get any more interactions during the following days which caused Harry to start moping again and ramble to Elise about his terrible love life. _It’s not anybody else’s  fault but only yours_ she’d say after listening for half an hour and preparing him his second banana milkshake. 

"Harry, I’m gonna say it as kindly as I can. You’re the biggest pussy I know which is kind of ironic since you don’t even have a vagina.” Elise said, loudly slurping on her milkshake.  

"Elise, you’re the biggest dick I know which is also kind of ironic since you don’t even have a penis." 

"Bro. That was good.” She held up her hand and they high-fived.  

"I know babe." 

"Anyway, back to you being a total pussy— oh don’t look at me like that— tomorrow you really gotta talk to him. The little staring contest you had made your day, imagine how happy you will be once you’ve spoken to him! You know what I did today on my free period? I did something only the greatest best friend would."

"Aw, you didn’t have to! I told you I would buy this shirt whenever I have time! You’re so sweet." 

"No, you fucking moron! Of course I didn’t buy you this shirt, how rich do you think I am?!” Elise looked at him like he was crazy. She was just a poor student, living off the money she earned in a local cafe. She barely had enough to buy herself a beloved pumpkin spice latte to fuel her for the rest of the day. An expensive shirt was out of question, unless it was Harry’s birthday. 

"I knew you didn’t, I just like to expect the best of you." 

"Well, this _is_ the best of me. I deeply looked through his plan — by the way, do you know how difficult that was? His classes are so messed up, man— and wrote down the hours when he finishes lectures. I’m honestly surprised you haven’t done that yet."

"So what did you conclude?" 

"That tomorrow he finishes one hour before us. We have a break. You and I go across the street to the Department of Law, you come up with some shitty excuse and then go up to him. I take photos."

"I don’t think the last part is necessary." 

"Well, I do. Your mum asked me if I had any photos.” she replied casually. 

"My MUM?!” 

Suddenly Harry felt a light slap on his shoulder.

"We’re getting off topic here, Harry! Focus." 

"Okay, okay. I get it. We’re doing it tomorrow, now let me finish my smoothie in peace, please and thank you. And oi, what’s with you and my mom being besties? I feel left out."

"I’m her new favourite child, end of our discussion." 

 

November 16th

University of London, Department of Law

4:00pm

 

Fate is a funny thing. Because some things happen a bit different than you thought. Harry likes to think fate is always the best planner. If something is meant to happen, it will. If not, then— well, then let’s not dwell on that. The curly haired boy is a hopeless romantic, even though he doesn’t like to admit that. It’s just that bouquets of roses, poems and declarations of love are small keys to his heart. He finds it romantic that right now, he’s on his way to talk to the man of his dreams but every day after that this day is gonna be just a memory. 

Just as he walked through the door he heard a panicked scream which caused him to snap out if his thoughts. He instantly rushed over to where the sound was coming from and found a group of people. A blonde guy was kneeling over someone. It took Harry only a few seconds to push his way through the crowd to get to the person laying on the ground. Everyone stepped aside when they noticed he was wearing his white apron. Harry kneeled right next to the victim and his breathing stopped.

 _Louis._  

He was laying still. All colour from his face drained and he looked pale. Not wasting any time Harry checked they boy’s neck to find a faint pulse. He leaned down and pressed his ear Louis’ chest. It wasn’t moving. 

_He’s not breathing he’s not breathing he’s not breathing_

Harry quickly pushed down the centre of his chest and then tilted his head back, pinched his nose and blew air into the boy’s mouth. 

_Repeat Repeat Repeat_

He heard coughing followed by a sharp intake of breath. Then some more coughing. He looped his arms around Louis and helped him sit up. Sighs of relief could be heard around the two, then someone started clapping. Harry waved his hand in dismissal and smiled. The boy looked down at Louis only to find him already looking at him with a look of gratitude and adoration.  

"Thank you. I can’t even express how grateful I am. You saved my life, Harry." Louis said with a shy smile. 

"No need to thank me. Hopefully that’s what I’ll be doing in the next three years after I’m done with university. I’m just happy I was around and able to help you, Louis."

Each boy was surprised the other knew their name. Neither of them said a word, though, unaware of the fact that the crush was mutual. However, spoiler alert, this would change soon. Just give them some time. 

"How can I repay you, my knight in shining apron?"

"Not to be cheesy or anything, but I would really like to take you out. Of course, you can say no — not that I want you to. Just don’t feel pressured or anything. I mean, go out with me only if you want. Because I want but you don’t need to-"

Harry felt a small hand squeeze his own. He looked at Louis with wide eyes and the blue eyed boy just nodded his head and smiled a i-would-die-for-you smile. 

"Of course I’ll go out with you, silly. That’s what I’ve been dreaming of since longer than I can remember. I was just a coward who apparently had to almost die in order to finally talk to you. But hey, at least it worked."

"You wanted to go out with me? You.-" he pointed his finger at Louis "-wanted to go out with me?!” Harry said as if it couldn’t trust his own ears.

"Yes?"

He shook his head in disbelief and laughed at himself. 

"I wanted the same. Was just too scared to talk to you. Actually, I came here looking for you so I could finally do it. But then I found you almost dead on the floor and instead of a small chat I had to perform a CPR. Huh. Not how I imagined our first encounter to be but I take what I can get." 

"Harry! — he heard someone screaming in the distance—Have you heard about Louis? He almost- _oh_. Hey Louis” Elise was a bit shocked but then her face quickly turned into a sly smile. She pulled out her phone and snapped a photo. 

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"It’s for the uni newspaper.” she said but her smile told a whole different story.

_Anne’s SO gonna love this._

"You’d think for the newspaper’s beloved students we’d be a bit smarter and braver.” Louis laughed. Harry just smiled at his boy and kissed his forehead. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank You so much for reading!  
> Leave some comments if you'd like, I love feedback x
> 
> Come chat with me on twitter: @swiftIouie


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